2011 NFL Draft Attendees List Released, Nine of 25 are SEC

The 2011 NFL Draft list of attendees has been released by Roger Goodell's Ministry of Informaion. Nine of the 25 are from the SEC and are as follows:

• Randall Cobb, Kentucky
• Marcell Dareus, Alabama
• Nick Fairley, Auburn
• A.J. Green, Georgia
• Mark Ingram, Alabama
• Julio Jones, Alabama
• Cam Newton, Auburn
• Patrick Peterson, LSU
• Mike Pouncey, Florida

The nine invitees from the SEC are the most of any conference, beating out the six from the Big 12. The three invitees from Alabama are the most from any single school. The Big East was the only BCS conference without anyone invited, and no non-BCS schools will have a representative going. I find it funny that Baylor alone has two players going, which equals the total from the entire ACC.

The NFL Players Association originally told prospective draftees not to attend the draft to show solidarity in the current labor spat, but it backed down on that stance after it became clear that players were going to attend anyway. The 25 players attending are a record for the event, which shows that the NFL is no longer concerned with making sure it only invites sure-fire high first round picks.